


Je Ne Sais Quoi

by monad



Category: Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-29 07:28:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monad/pseuds/monad





	1. Just Another Tuesday

Working at Sparrow and Nightingale's DVD Rental Shop and Book Store was not Sally's dream job, but somebody had to watch the store. Since it was her name up on the sign, about half the time that fell to her. Larry was busy out getting some groceries and so she was all alone.

It was a Tuesday afternoon, and just like most every Tuesday afternoon, business was slow. Sally just sat at the counter and stared at the television. Today she had an old episode of Agatha Christie. She loved mysteries, as they always kept her thinking. Never knew when those critical thinking skills were going to come in handy. For all she knew The Doctor could show up again.

That was Sally's one great adventure. The story with The Doctor, the DVDs, Detective Inspector Billy Shipton — who was just a dream, but not her dream — and the weeping Angels. It had been all of just a couple of days. A couple of days after she decided to break into that old dilapidated house, Wester Drumlins.

But Sally was a bright one, yes she was. It didn't take her too long to figure things out. She pieced it together, and she got The Doctor's police box time machine — didn't he call that a TARDIS? — back to him and everything was good and right. It only took her months to figure out exactly what had happened afterward.

She saw him running by, and she just handed him the folder of stuff she had put together. Silly old girl, she told herself, of course you gave it to him. Of course that's how he knew. Of course. He's a time traveler. He met you before you met him.

It still hurt her brain a little, but she got it. And it made her smile when she thought about it. About him. About his hair. He had such fantastic hair.

There was a jingle of the bell that meant somebody had come in through the door. It jarred Sally out of her daydream about the dreamy Doctor, and she smiled at the man. He was a customer, after all. Must smile at the customers.

“Let me know if you need any help finding anything, sir,” she said, not moving from behind the counter.

He just gave her a grunt and wandered over toward the shrouded section marked for adult DVDs.

That's the way it always was on a Tuesday afternoon. Nobody comes in for hours, and then when somebody does, they're going for the porn. It's always the porn.

Sally was about to call out to him, and tell him that they only rented those DVDs out on odd numbered days, so he'd have to come back tomorrow, but then the strangest thing caught her eye.

A woman, probably her age, walking down the street. Just walking down the street and then _poof_ she was gone. It was like one moment she was there, and then the next she wasn't. How very strange.

Then again, was it stranger than a time-traveling Doctor who recorded an Easter egg to be placed on every DVD she owned? Was it stranger than aliens who were quantum-locked and whose touch would send you back in time? No, not really. Women disappearing was down right normal compared to the things Sally had already encountered on her adventure.

She couldn't wait to tell Larry about the disappearing woman. He'd never believe her. He'd think she was crazy. Who knew, maybe she was.


	2. A Bird In The Hand

Fish and chips. There was something absolutely fantastic about a simple basket of chips with some golden-brown, beer-battered fish on top of it. One could almost say it was magical, if it weren't Muggle cooking.

Ever since Hermione had found this pub, she couldn't help but come here for lunch at least once a week. Sometimes twice, or even three times. There was something about their food that she just couldn't find anywhere else, and she had tried.

She had read book after book of cooking spells. _Seafood for Sorceresses_ , _Fryboys_ (a book Ron had bought her, detailing all of the Chudley Cannons' favorite fried food recipes), _Cook It With Magic: Spells That Will Tease The Tongue_ , and a whole host of other grimoires and lexicons. She just couldn't find a way to replicate the taste of those succulent and flaky fried fish fillets over those crunchy and fluffy chips.

Sure, she could make fish and chips. But they just weren't the _same_. So, she kept coming back. She'd sit in her corner booth, all alone, just her and a book. No kids to watch, no Ron to please, nothing but her and some knowledge. And those fish and chips.

Today she'd been reading her copy of _Curses, Foiled Again! Counter-Curses That Have Saved The World_. It was riveting reading. Nobody knew better than her how valuable a good counter-curse was. Thankfully, it had been over a decade since the war, and people didn't worry so much any more about getting cursed or hexed. But you could never be over-prepared, that was Hermione's motto.

She ate her lunch, enjoying the buttery, flaky fish and the salty fluffy chips. They were every bit as delicious as they always were. After she finished, paid, and cleaned herself up in the ladies', she set about heading back home.

There was a Floo booth that she liked to use for just this purpose. Not unlike the Visitor's Entrance to the Ministry of Magic, an old, disused phone box just a few blocks away from the pub. She could go in and punch in M A G I C on the key pad, say her destination into the handset and off she'd be to the fireplace of her choice. It was mighty convenient for a witch with a hankering for pub food.

But, as she approached the booth, there was somebody standing in front of it. A woman, probably about her own age, and she had her arms folded over her chest.

“Excuse me,” Hermione said, “can I slip past you there, ma'am?”

“Not until you tell me how it is you disappear once you go into that phone box.”

Oh bloody hell. The Muggle-repellent charms must be wearing off on the booth. She was going to have to contact the Ministry and have them come out and check up on it. This was just not supposed to happen.

“That's absurd,” she said with a dismissive wave of one hand. “People can't just go into phone boxes and disappear. It's just patently ridiculous. What _ever_ gave you that idea?”

The woman — she was actually rather pretty, standing there, all defiant — got a little smirk on her face. “Well, I work in that shop across the street,” she pointed to a store, Sparrow and Nightingale DVD Rental Shop and Book Store. “In fact, I own it. And I've seen you come up here and walk into that phone booth, and then you just vanish. I've seen you doing it for weeks now, and I just can't stand the curiosity. I _have_ to know how you're doing it.”

Hermione didn't hear most of what the woman had said. She was still looking at the book store. As far back as she could remember, books had been her weakness. How could she not have noticed there was a book store right across from the Floo booth?

“Um,” she said, looking back at the woman. “I doubt you'd believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” she said. “I've _seen_ things.”

Well, what could it hurt? Hermione was going to have to Obliviate her afterward anyway. She might as well just come clean. Besides, the woman was so cute. Maybe she'd go for a coffee or a drink.

“Okay,” she said. “But not here on the street. Do you know somewhere private we can go to talk about it?”

The woman nodded. “Sure, why don't you come up to my place, it's above the store. My boyfriend Larry's watching the counter, so I've got some free time.”

Wow, that was fast. Getting invited up to her place already. Hermione had some rather racy thoughts involving bookshelves and the woman, was she Sparrow or was she Nightingale? Sparrow, she thought. Definitely Sparrow.

“So, what's your name?” She asked the woman, as they walked across the street.

“I'm Sally. Sally Sparrow. You?”

Hah! She'd been right. “I'm Hermione Weasley.”

The woman giggled and then opened the door onto the stairs that led up to her apartment. As Hermione passed her she grinned. “We both have animal names. Well, sort of.”

Hermione smiled. Sally was pretty when she smiled. She seemed very kissable. Hermione put those thoughts out of her mind. She wasn't here to kiss on anybody. Besides, she was happy with Ron. She didn't want to kiss on anybody else. She just needed to come in, make Sally comfortable, and then Obliviate her. She'd leave, contact the Ministry to let them know the Muggle-repellent charms on the Floo booth were failing, and then she'd go on about her life.

She let Sally walk up the stairs in front of her, so that she could open the door. As the slender woman walked up the stairs, Hermione marveled at her long, mousy hair. It wasn't all that different from her own, except much less tangled. It was very beautiful. Hermione imagined combing her fingers through it, and she imagined burying her nose in it.

 _Snap out of it, Hermione!_ she thought. She was happy with Ron. Besides, she didn't even like girls. But there was something about the way Sally Sparrow walked up those stairs. Something about the way her hips swayed and her hair brushed the small of her back. Something just made Hermione want to touch her. Sally Sparrow kindled feelings inside of Hermione that she had never, ever felt before.

Those were just feelings Hermione was going to have to suppress. She had a family. She had a husband who loved her, she had children who looked up to her, and most of all: they all knew she was a witch. She didn't have to worry about revealing herself to her family. There was a whole _world_ of people she could be herself around. What about Sally Sparrow? Hermione already knew she was going to have to Obliviate her. She'd seen too much. How could Hermione ever hope to kindle anything with this woman that she knew she'd have to Obliviate afterward?

That actually sort of had its appeal. There would be no consequences afterward. She wouldn't have this — admittedly gorgeous — Muggle woman pining after her or anything like that. She'd never know. Hermione could do whatever she wanted, and then just cast a Memory Charm and it would be like it had never happened. Hell, she could, once she got home, Obliviate herself, and then she wouldn't even have to lie.

No, that was absurd. No woman was worth cheating on her Ronnie. She wasn't going to do it.

“So, are you going to come in, or are you just going to stand there?” Sally was standing inside the door, with her fists on her hips.

Oh right. The explanation. That's why she was up here. Hermione put her moral dilemma on the back burner, and crossed the threshold into Sally's apartment, shutting the door behind her.

“Right, so,” she said, “you want to know about what happens in the phone box.”

Sally nodded as she walked over toward her sofa. “That's right,” she said. “How is it that you step into that phone box, that's got windows on every side, and then just vanish?”

“Well,” Hermione said. “It's magic.”

“Don't condescend to me, Miss Weasley,” Sally said, a slight tone of irritation in her voice. “You don't have to tell me its magic just because you don't think I'll understand. I've _seen_ things. I've met time travelers. I've seen aliens that turn to stone if you ever look at them. You can tell me what's really going on. I'll believe you.”

Hermione was stunned. This was not what she was expecting from a Muggle. “You've seen _what_?”

“Well, there's the Doctor. He's a time traveler. I helped him get out of a pinch a couple of years ago,” she said. “Who knows, maybe that's now his time. It was about a year ago I gave him the folder.” She shakes her head. “It's all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, like he used to say. Hard to get my brain around it.”

Hermione blinked. Muggles weren't supposed to be able to _do_ that. Time Turners were strictly regulated, indeed, they were mostly kept secret even from the wizarding world. She was going to need to look into this Doctor, whomever he was.

“And then there's the Weeping Angels,” Sally continued. “Talk about terrifying. They're these aliens, that's what the Doctor said, who can send you back in time just by touching you. They sent my friend Kathy back to twenties, and they sent the Doctor and his friend Martha and this cute detective I met back to the sixties. That's what me and Larry helped them with.”

Aliens. Aliens that could send you back in time. Hermione did not know _what_ to make of all this. Here she thought she was going to be the one getting looked at strange. On the other hand, she probably didn't really need to Obliviate Sally. It sounded like magic was probably run-of-the-mill for this girl.

“So anyway, the Weeping Angels. They're aliens, and they can move so very fast, but they've got a weakness. They're quantum locked. They can only move if nobody's looking at them. When you look at them they turn to stone. Like stone statues.” She paused and got this really serious look on her face. “Just think about it, Hermione,” she said. “Any one of those statues you walk by every day around London. Any one of them could be another one of those angels.”

“Um,” Hermione stuttered. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, that is terrifying. Very terrifying.” She was still just trying to calm down, having learned that there apparently were creatures that could send you back in time, and further back than six hours! Even the most powerful wizards could only go back six hours.

“So, like I was saying. I've seen stuff. You can tell me whatever is really going on, Hermione Weasley. You don't need to just wave your hand and tell me its magic. I can handle the real explanation.”

“But, well,” Hermione stuttered. She wasn't used to being caught so off-guard by anybody, and especially not Muggles. She was accustomed to being the person who knew all the esoteric trivia about the world. “But, you see, Sally Sparrow,” she said, finally finding her words again. “It _is_ magic.”

Sally frowned and folded her hands over chest. “Fine, if you don't want to tell me, you can leave then,” she stood and motioned toward the door.

Hermione felt strangely hurt by the dismissal. She felt like she really needed to prove to Sally Sparrow that she wasn't trying to avoid answering her question. So she stood up and pulled her wand out of her sleeve. She pointed it at Sally and spoke. “ _Wingardium Leviosa_!”

Sally immediately began to rise into the air. Overcome with instinct, the first thing she did was scream.

“ _Silencio_!”

Sally continued to scream, but made no sound. She thrashed around in the middle of the air, but Hermione was careful not to hover her anywhere she could hit anything.

“Do you believe me now? I'm a witch, Sally Sparrow. I'm a witch. I have a wand. I do magic. That phone box has magic that connects it to a network of magical fireplaces — I know it sounds odd, but that's how wizards and witches get around — and you're just going to have to believe it.”

Hermione took a breath.

“Now, I want to let you down. I want to lift the Silencing Charm, but I need your word that you'll not scream, and that you'll remain calm. I don't want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” No, indeed, Hermione didn't want to hurt her at all. She wanted to do entirely non-hurting things to Sally Sparrow.

Hermione quickly reigned in her dirty mind. “So, I want you to nod if you agree to these terms, and shake your head if you don't. If you don't agree, then I'll be forced to erase your memory of this entire event. So, that's your choice. Can you be an adult about this, or am I going to have to Obliviate your memories?”

Sally seemed to think for a moment, floating there in the air. Finally she nodded.

Hermione let her down, setting her back on the couch, albeit on her back as if she'd been laid down, rather than on her butt like she'd sat down. She then lifted the Silencing Charm and tucked her wand back up into her sleeve.

Sally remained silent, just staring at Hermione, eyes wide open. She sort of scootched back into the corner of the couch, but remained on her back.

“I, I,” Sally stuttered. “I don't know what to say.” She thought for a moment. “Are there more like you?”

“Of course there are,” Hermione said with a dismissive wave. “Where do you think I learned how to be a witch? There's a whole world of magic that you Muggles don't know about.” She paused briefly. “Though, I'm beginning to wonder about this Doctor character and these Weeping Angels. Maybe we're _all_ in the dark about some things.”

Sally tried to laugh. “Yeah, he has that effect,” she said. “My brush with him left my head hurting for weeks while I tried to figure it all out.”

“I know that feeling all to well,” Hermione said, sitting down on the couch by Sally's feet. She set her hands in her lap, fighting the urge to reach out and touch those petite, adorable feet.

“There's so many things in the wizarding world,” Hermione continued. “You can't even begin to imagine. There's time travel and dragons and centaurs and flying broomsticks and goblins and potions and spells,” she said. “Honestly, I know you Muggles get along alright, I mean my parents were Muggles, but I can't imagine living my life that way. It's just so dull.”

Sally started to get an upset look on her face, and Hermione quickly interrupted, “But, I was telling you all that so that I could tell you that when I first found out about all of this, when I was eleven, it was a lot to take in. Sure, I learned it all gradually, but going from being raised by dentists to finding out I'm a witch and being introduced to the wizarding world. Well, I can sympathize with you. I get the impression that the Doctor might even make me feel that way.”

Sally's frown subsided. She propped herself up on her elbows. “So,” she said. “Where do we go from here? Do you have to erase my memory? I've never heard of witches and wizards being real, and if you're living here in London, I can only imagine you're trying to keep it a secret.”

Hermione nodded. “Well, by rights, I should probably perform a Memory Charm on you, yes,” she said. “But, you seem to have been exposed to a lot of things just as out-of-the-ordinary as Wizards, and you don't go blabbing about it, do you?”

“Just to Larry, but that's 'cause he was there too.” Sally shrugged. “Who is going to believe me when I tell them about aliens and time-machine police boxes? I suppose you do, but then again, that all sounds pretty ordinary for you. I bet you see that kind of stuff every day or two.”

Hermione laughed. “Hardly. No, your little adventure sounds odd even to me.”

“So, that's it then? It's magic, and you've got to get on your way?” Sally finally righted herself and stood up.

Well, that _was_ it, wasn't it? She'd answered the woman's question. She'd decided not to Obliviate her. She really had to get back home. Her kids were all off at Hogwarts, but that didn't mean there weren't things to do around the house. She stood up.

“I suppose it is then,” Hermione said. Then she just sort of awkwardly stood there. She didn't want to leave. This Sally Sparrow intrigued her. She made Hermione feel a way she'd never felt before. Her beautiful hair, and that lovely voice. She even smelled good. Hermione just stood there, staring.

“Well? Are you going to go then?” Sally took a couple of steps toward Hermione, almost like she was herding the witch toward the door. “You answered my question, I guess. Unless, you've got something else you want to talk about?”

She was close enough that Hermione could smell her. She could smell the shampoo she used, and the faint hint of some perfume. She took a deep breath of that scent, and a smile crept onto her lips. It was heavenly. She couldn't help but just stand there, smiling.

“Come on, Miss Weasley, you're starting to freak me out a little,” she said. “Will you just talk to me?”

Something inside Hermione snapped. Her eyes opened and she took the step needed to close the distance between her and Sally Sparrow. Then she reached up with both hands, grabbed the other woman's face, and pulled her in for a kiss.

She just had to kiss her. She _had_ to. She had to taste Sally's lips, and did they ever taste so sweet. She had to feel the touch of Sally's skin, and was it ever so soft.

At first, Sally was stunned, and just stood there being kissed. Then she brought her hands up, placed them firmly on Hermione's chest and pushed her away. Only then did she realized that she'd just fondled the witch's breasts. Sally took a quick step back and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

“ _What_ are you doing?”

“I, I, I,” Hermione stammered. “I don't know. I just. You stepped so close and I could smell you and I had to taste you. I had to touch you. I don't know what came over me. I mean I'm _married_. I'm _Mrs_ Weasley. I have kids. But, but, I don't know!” Sally was speechless. She stared at the other woman and took a deep breath. “You like the way I smell?”

Hermione nodded.

“You mean to tell me that you liked the way I smelled so much, that it made you, a married woman, feel compelled to kiss me?”

Hermione nodded. “Though, it wasn't just that. The way your hair falls down over your back. The way your hips swayed when you climbed the stairs. The way your lips move when you talk.” She paused. “I don't know. I've _never_ felt this way about anyone before. Not even my Ronnie.”

Sally stepped closer toward Hermione. She reached out to take the witch's hand in her own, and brought it up to her face. She laid it against her face, pressing her cheek into Hermione's palm.

“Nobody's ever told me that before. Nobody, not even Larry, has been so completely attracted to me like that.”

Hermione interrupted. “I'm, I'm, I'm not sure that's what it is. I just, I feel so strange around you.”

Sally took another step closer, bringing their bodies together. Her nipples brushed Hermione's through their blouses.

“That's what it is, Mrs. Weasley. You're attracted to me. And I like that.”

This time it was Sally. She reached up with both hands, and pulled Hermione in for another kiss, pressing her lips firm against the witch's.

Now, getting what she wanted, Hermione was conflicted. What would Ron think if he ever found out? What was she even doing kissing this woman? She felt her lips part and Sally's tongue pass between them. She felt her own tongue glide alongside and twist and dance. She realized, with a sort of detached awareness, that she wanted this. Needed it. So, she put her doubts out of her mind. She'd figure out how to deal with the consequences later.

Sally pulled her back toward the sofa, and sat her down. They sat there and looked at each other, hand in hand. Silently inspecting one another in a way they hadn't done before. Sally noticed Hermione's eyes, and Hermione noticed Sally's nose.

Sally reached up to brush a piece of Hermione's hair behind her ear, and then let her fingers glide down along Hermione's jaw in a soft caress.

“We really shouldn't,” Hermione said, quietly. “I know I want to, but we really shouldn't.”

“Like you really shouldn't leave here without erasing my memories? You were going to break that rule already.”

“Yeah,” Hermione stammered. “That's different. That's just...”

Sally interrupted. “It's just the secrecy of your whole wizarding world. You're willing to put that all at risk. Why? It's because you like me. Because you want me.”

Hermione blinked. How could she have been so blind to her own thinking? How was it that this Muggle woman could see through her so easily? That was clearly it.

“I... suppose you're right.”

“Of course I'm right,” Sally said. “So you need to make a decision here. Either you do what you want to do, or you do what you ought to do. Or, for that matter, you could do what you want to do and then do what you ought to do, and I won't know the difference.”

Hermione remembered thinking exactly that just twenty minutes earlier when they were walking up the stairs. She could fuck this Sally Sparrow, then cast a Memory Charm on them both to make it like it had never happened.

She stood up and shook her head. “No,” she said. “No. I'm not going to erase your memory, and I'm not going to fuck you. Not now. I'm going to walk right out that door, and I'm going to go home. I never should have come up here, and I'll never come back.”

If Sally wasn't disappointed, she sure looked the part. “Fine,” she said, not even getting up. She waved toward the door. “Go. See if I care. You know you'll be back, though. I saw the need in your eyes. I felt it in your kiss. You need me, Hermione Weasley. I've got something you can't get anywhere else.”

That was true, Hermione thought, as she walked toward the door. She _did_ have something. That unquantifiable _je ne sais qua_ that drove her crazy. She'd never felt that way about a woman, or a man, before, and she wasn't going to stop feeling that way just because she made herself leave the woman's flat.

“I'm still leaving,” she said. “I need to think about all of this.” And then, instead of walking out the door. She Disapparated. She actually just went _poof_ and was gone.

Sally stared. Definitely magic.


End file.
